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Science & Religion Reading Group--Feb 3, 2000Articles:--Paden, William. Interpreting the Sacred: Ways of Viewing Religion. "The Challenge: Critical Interpretations of Religion." Boston: Beacon Press. --"Science and Religion." From The Harper Collins Dictionary of Religion. SUMMARY Science is an approach to studying the world. It is often taught in a way that tries to exclude imagination and emotion. The task of both science and religion is to explain how things work and why we are here. Conflict exists between the two. . . Will there be a reconciliation? If science can "explain it all," will this exclude religion completely? Accepting religion entails accepting a certain sense of mystery. Some scientists can accept the mystery, while others cannot rest there-- they want to explain the mystery. "Science is the study of nature and life. Religion is the way to live life with nature." Religion is not just a set of theological principles-- it involves a set of practices. Evolution was originally thought of as a "guided" process. Now, most people accept it as a random process, rather than part of an overall design. The idea of teleology was pushed out by Darwinianism, as natural selection has no specific direction or goal. If humans are the result of random processes, this raises a question of purpose. Is there purpose/direction/meaning in life? Anthropic principle-- the world seems to be fine-tuned for human existence? Incorporating the supernatural in science is usually discouraged, for
fear it might stop progress.
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